The Last Person I Expected at Karaoke
A reserved museum conservator enters a karaoke contest to honor her late sister. Her infuriating former rival is the only person willing to sing the duet she cannot finish alone.
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How it begins
Mara had prepared for the microphone to fail.
She had not prepared for it to work.
Her voice came back through the speakers, small and unexpectedly public.
At table six, a man lowered his drink.
Of course it was Rafi.
She could have faced a room of strangers. She could probably have faced the woman who once criticized her choice of museum labels for seventeen uninterrupted minutes.
Rafi Rowe was less manageable.
The opening music continued without her.
On the screen, the first line changed color.
Mara looked toward the sound desk and made the universal gesture for please stop whatever this is.
The operator gave her an encouraging thumbs-up.
Rafi stood.
She shook her head.
He came anyway.
"Don't," she said when he reached the stage.
"I haven't done anything."
"You're about to."
"Usually a sound defense."
He took the second microphone from its stand.
Mara looked at the folded list in her hand. Her sister had written the titles in green ink, adding stars beside the ones they would sing when they were old enough to stop caring.
They had been thirty and twenty-eight.
Apparently that had not been old enough.
Rafi saw the paper.
His expression changed.
"Is that hers?"
Mara nodded once.
The operator, finally noticing the difficulty, stopped the track.
Silence expanded around them.
Rafi lowered his microphone.
"We can leave."
Mara looked at him.
For years, he had been the person who asked for another round, another attempt, another chance to prove she was not as good at something as she thought.
Now he stood beside her offering an exit.
"I entered," she said.
"I noticed."
"I paid eight pounds."
"Then obviously we must honor the investment."
She almost laughed.
At the sound desk, the operator waited for a decision.
Rafi turned toward Mara instead.
"Your song," he said. "Your choice."
For the first time since stepping onto the stage, she looked at the room without trying to imagine what her sister would have wanted.
Then she unfolded the list.
Your idea. Your book.
Keep the spark. Change anything.
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Outline and characters
Develop this idea
Let the songs carry particular memories without quoting copyrighted lyrics. Mara's grief should change from scene to scene rather than disappear when romance begins. Rafi needs a reason to care about singing beyond helping her. Their former rivalry can provide humor and attraction, but the emotional turn comes when neither uses an audience to decide whether the other has done well.
- Mara enters the karaoke contest using her sister's unfinished song list
- Rafi offers to sing the difficult duet
- Their old competitive habits turn rehearsal into argument
- A familiar recording reveals how differently they remember the sister
- Mara discovers Rafi withdrew from music after a public failure
- They practice without an audience and begin to trust
- The contest organizer markets their grief as an uplifting story
- Mara refuses the performance she thinks everyone expects
- Rafi supports a quieter song Mara chooses herself
- They sing together after the contest without needing a prize
Characters
- Mara Cole, 32. Museum conservator
- Rafi Rowe, 39. Former rival and amateur singer
Series possibilities
- The little venue starts a monthly amateur night and reunites two former bandmates.
